Twenty percent of tech firms reject applicants due to social media profiles [Infographic]

Approximately twenty percent of technology industry executives admit to rejecting job applicants based on their activity in social media, according to a survey of over 300 technology companies carried out by PR group, Eurocom.

The survey also found that half of tech firms plan to increase their investment in social media over the coming year but 57 percent say that they cannot accurately measure the return on that investment. 23 percent believe they can measure the impact of their social media investment.

The survey found that 74 percent of tech companies are using LinkedIn, 67 percent are on Twitter, 64 percent are on Facebook and 56 percent have a presence on YouTube. Half of the companies surveyed said they had a process in place to track discussions of their brand in social media channels.

Reasons for publishing company blogs included publishing thought leadership to raise the company’s profile (57 percent), enhancing dialogue with customers (55 percent) and improving the website’s SEO (37 percent). 78 percent of companies said that their messaging and content creation for social media was produced internally, while 12 percent said this was managed by their PR agency and, with digital marketing and advertising making up the rest.

Mads Christensen, network director at Eurocom Worldwide, said: “The 21st century human is learning that every action leaves an indelible digital trail. In the years ahead many of us will be challenged by what we are making public in various social forums today. The fact that one in five applicants disqualify themselves from an interview because of content in the social media sphere is a warning to job seekers and a true indicator of the digital reality we now live in.”